I apologize for my lack of updating recently, but sometimes it's really hard to think of what to share with everybody and put it into writing. Plus things haven't been extremely eventful lately. But now many things are about to be changing and happening so I have a lot to share!

First off, as some of you may have heard, I got malaria. Around 7th or 8th, I started feeling pretty tired and just not myself but I didn't think it was malaria because I didn't have a fever or…

Almut, Tricia, and I went to church this last Sunday by ourselves. We got there a little late but got a seat in the back. The church service was extra long. About 3 hours in Tricia passed out in her seat. Almut and I caught her. We had no idea what happened. Her eyes were still wide open but you could see she wasn’t there. Her face got really white. We were scared for her, but didn’t know what to do. Thankfully she was only out for maybe a minute if that. Then, the three of us went to sit…

It looks like we will be moving into our families after Thanksgiving. We will spend Thanksgiving in Bouake on campus with other missionaries in our area. We are all looking forward to that. Then we go up to Korhogo the 28^th of this month for orientation with our families that have been chosen by the church we will be in. Almut and I will be in the Tiekelezo Church. Then, I believe we will move into our families on the 30^th. The first month of living there I think we…

Well this is my last update!

I'm back in the States now!

My last month in Cote d'Ivoire was bitter sweet. Saying goodbye is really hard and I had to do some of the hardest…

Tricia, Almut, and I went to our first African funeral several days ago. It was for Pastor Eli one of the first pastors of the Baptist Churches in Cote d’Ivoire. He had died a month ago and they waited until now to have the funeral so that people could make it to the veille. A veille is an all night party celebrating the life of the person who has passed away. Also, in this case since this man is a Christian we celebrated that he is now with the Lord.

   We went to this veille the day…

SEE PART 1>>

The book of Ephesians opens with a glorious articulation of the Gospel. Immediately following this Paul offers a prayer to God on behalf of the Ephesian church. Often in Paul’s writings he reveals part of his letters purpose as he prays for his reader. Paul’s letter to Ephesus is no different. Paul prays this, “…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,…

My mind is brewing an idea. Have you ever had an idea that buzzes around in your head for months--the kind that follows you and steals away a bit of your mental energy all day? I get these little thoughts all the time. Usually, these little ideas grow over time. As I go about my business the idea grabs a hold other thoughts like a snowball tumbling down a hill. And just like a tumbling snowball eventually the idea is so pervasive that it demands my attention. Today I have one of those ideas…

So I've been in Cote d'Ivoire for 100 days now. What to think, what to think... I just don't even know where to start! Have I accomplished anything? I don't even know, but yeah I think of have. Of course nothing large, but I've had many, many small personal victories. Oh gosh, putting my thoughts into words is so difficult!

This beginning time in Cote d'Ivoire, I've had to do 20 years of maturing all over again in about 3 months. I came here as a child, not being able to…

So last Friday I went to my first funeral veilée. A veilée is an all night party, literally alllll night. The funeral was for the first pastor of AEBECI, which is the association of churches that was started by the same mission as my program. So this was kind of a big deal. There were soooo many people, it was ridiculous. I'm terrible at estimating numbers of people but I think there was possibly 200-300 people there. Here's how the whole thing went:

First we drove to…